LIVE: How Small Businesses Are Navigating the Covid-19 Pandemic | December 22

(Dec. 22) We take a look at how two small businesses on opposite sides of the world are navigating the coronavirus pandemic, from illusion cake bakers in Hong kong to a Filipino pop-up restaurant in New York.

Small businesses, the beating heart of the U.S. economy, have been hard hit by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. A $669 billion federal relief program designed to help them survive amid lockdowns has provided a short-term relief to millions, but left behind some of the tiniest and most vulnerable firms. The Paycheck Protection Program of forgivable loans to small firms ended Aug. 8 with almost $134 billion in remaining funds. Following a months-long stalemate, lawmakers reached a deal on a new pandemic relief package, including $284 billion for the PPP, just before a holiday break.

Small firms have proved more resilient than feared, and many showed creativity to weather the crisis. But there’s a racial gap, with Black-owned businesses bearing the brunt of the economic pain at the onset of the crisis. As Covid-19 infections spike again across the U.S., entrepreneurs are facing new business restrictions and wrestling daunting questions: Is my firm viable at half-capacity? How can I keep my workers and my customers safe?

The rollout of small-business relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, had a rocky start in April, criticized for giving funds to large firms and favoring certain states. The gap closed during the second round, but big-name law firms, religious organizations and companies connected to President Donald Trump and other politicians were among the thousands of loan recipients that took part in the federal government’s largest coronavirus relief program, according to data disclosed by the government on July 6. Here’s a look at where the money went.

Keeping small businesses afloat is central to efforts to shore up the economy. Those companies, typically with fewer than 500 employees, contributed almost two-thirds of net employment gains in the U.S. from 2000 to 2018, according to the Small Business Administration, the agency that oversees their relief program. The tiniest firms, with staff of 20 or less, employ more than 20 million people in the country.

Small businesses’ voices are rarely heard in Washington, where they can’t match the muscle that big corporations wield on Capitol Hill. Tracking where the financial aid is going and whether it’s trickling down to those who need it most is challenging — but it is key to understanding how Covid-19 may redefine the fabric of the economy.

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